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New Year’s Blogging Resolution, Plus Blog Reading Tips!

It’s a new year, which means it’s time for some New Year’s resolutions. I haven’t been a huge advocate for these in the past, but I thought I would try it this year. (Resolution #1)

While I have noticed that my phone has become a distraction while driving and want reduce its usage in the car (Resolution #2), I realized that there is another issue I would like to address this year: blogging. Over the past few months, I have disappeared from the blogging realm, both as a reader and writer of blogs. This is why I have decided to make it my New Year’s resolution to catch up and stay current on reading blogs (Resolution #3), as well as write blog posts more often (Resolution #4). While I hope to write a new blog post every week, my goal is to write a new post at least once a month (Resolution #4.5).

To get started, I thought it would be good to share some tips on how to keep up with reading blogs.

Tip #1: Use an RSS Reader

I found out recently that many people, even those in edtech, don’t use RSS readers to keep up with the blogs that they read. If you are not using an RSS reader, you need to use one! Not familiar with RSS? Check out this video by Common Craft:

There are several RSS reader options out there to help you stay current to your blogs. Below is a list of RSS readers you might want to consider:

I prefer and use The Older Reader, but suggest that you try all three options and find out which one works best for you.

Tip #2: Read Your Feeds on the Go

It is really hard to find time to just sit down on my computer and read through my feeds. This is why I have found it to be extremely important to read feeds on the go. Even just a few minutes here and there might be enough to get through a day’s worth of blog posts. This is why it is very important to find a good mobile RSS reader app. Below is a list of mobile RSS reader apps for iOS that you might want to consider:

I prefer and use Feeddler, but suggest that you try all three options and find out which one works best for you. Please do note that the Feedly app only works with the Feedly RSS reader.

Tip #3: Use a Read-It-Later App

Reading through your feeds on the go don’t have time to actually read the articles that interest you? No worries! This is where a read-it-later app comes in handy. Using one of these apps not only allows you to save articles to read later, but also allows you to categorize articles. The categorizing features is very handy, especially if you want to save and refer back to articles over time. Below is a list of read-it-later apps you might want to consider:

Thanks for the link Andrew. I always appreciate when people like my posts.

RSS Readers are a great way to pull in all your favorite blogs into one place. I’d recommend just using it for blogs though and not news sites. Since news sites update so often it can be overwhelming and make your RSS feeds feel cluttered.